The results from last week's elections in Wellington may not have been accurate, WPBF 25 News has learned.

Advertisement

Palm Beach County Board of Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher announced Monday a computer glitch may have shifted the order in which the candidates appeared on the ballot.

"The kind of error that we saw today is one that has never been seen in the state of Florida," Bucher said.

It's possible a voter trying to cast a ballot for one candidate may have actually voted for that person's opponent.

Voters last week went to the polls to elect a mayor and two council members.

Election officials had initially decided to conduct a recount but they then realized that might not be legal. Bucher said this has never happened before so there's no precedent set to determine the proper course of action.

"This is not a human error. This is a computer-generated error -- one that is on a computer system that was tested and certified by the state of Florida," Bucher said.

In the end, the man who won the mayoral election the first time was confirmed to be the winner after an audit of the results, but this time by a smaller margin.

"I'm wondering if those numbers -- the certified numbers -- are correct. Or if these numbers are correct," mayoral candidate Bob Margolis said.

Both council races were flipped after the audit, making last week's losers now the winners.

"I'm a little happier with the numbers than I was coming in the door," council candidate Matt Willhite said.

"I would have had a lot more fun at my party the other day, I'll tell you that," council candidate John Greene said.

The canvassing board met Monday evening to figure out the next course of action.

Elections officials said they were comfortable that the second count contained the correct results, but because the first count is already official, no one is sure how to proceed.

"When I won, I was shocked. When I lost, I was shocked. Haven't thought at all about what I will do with these results," council candidate Shauna Hostetler said.

Several candidates already have told WPBF they plan to take the issue to court.